- The Campfire audio relay is a DAC / USB-C amp for headphones
- The Pro-Projet E head box is a very small office earphone
- Campfire audio relay: $ 229 / £ 229 | Pro-project head box: £ 89 (about $ 120)
Two of our favorite hi-fi companies have published two very different helmet amps. One is designed to live on your desk, and the other in your pocket or handbag, but both promise an important audio upgrade for fans of the best wired headphones and the best wired headphones.
AMPs are the Campfire audio relay, a DAC / AMP portable cadphone helmet with a USB-C connection; And the Pro-Projet E head box, a compact office helmet amplifier. Both are available from July 2025, and both cost you cheaper than you expect.
Camp Fire Relay and Pro-Projet Head Box: Key features and price
Let’s start with the most affordable pair, the Pro-Projet E. head box. It is only £ 89 / € 119 (around $ 120 / $ 180 in), and unlike amplifiers at similar prices, it does not use an integrated chipset for its amplification: the projection project used discreetly selected discreet components to provide a sound that strikes above the amplifier.
The head box E offers 665 milliwatts in 32 ohms, and it is deliberately simple: it has a pair of 6.3 mm and a 3.5 mm helmet at the front – which can be used simultaneously for shared listening – and RCA at the rear. The RCA Out is bypassed so that it can send an unchanged audio to your Hi-Fi system. According to Pro-Poch, it “surpasses the stages of the helmet generally found in stereo amps”.
The Audio Campfire relay is even smaller, and it is built around the AKM 4493 SEQ DAC chip which, according to Campfire, offers “just the right amount of color and a touch of a classic analog sound signature”. It has 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm outputs and USB-C for large connectivity with phones, tablets and computers.
The relay has a high / low selectable gain, six filter modes and variable bit rates up to 32 bits / 768 kHz, and it supports PCM and DSD reading.
The Audio Campfire relay is £ 229 / $ 299 (around $ 470 in) and if you are in London this weekend, you can check it in Canjam London.
